From the cutting gardens of Flowers On Lawn we create lovely seasonal bouquets
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There’s been plenty of sparks flying in the garage this weekend, my super clever Husband has been making our green house bench’s.
I was going to wait and take a pick of the greenhouse all set up but I’m so happy with how they look that I wanted to show you!
Hoping he might let me have a try at welding the next one!
It’s a beautiful Autumn day here in the gardens, perfect for starting the clear out of all the Summer Annuals that have gone to seed or are past their best.
It’s a busy time of year for us and also the time everything feels like it’s in a mess, but it’s also the beginning of thinking of Spring and all the things I’d like to grow!
The final push to get most of the house painted before the weather cools has understandably left us feeling a bit tired these last few weeks.
But no rest planned just yet as some steel is hopefully arriving this week and we can make a start on our greenhouse tables.
Have to be honest that we ( well me really) has been deliberating wether to make wooden of metal benches, weighing up costs of materials etc and as we have all the gear to make metal ones we have opted to make some long lasting tables that I can use inside or outside and I’m going to be able to paint them a cool colour which if I’m honest played a big part in my decision making!
Autumn is well and truly here now, the trees are turning colour and the flowers are slowing down.
It’s the time of year where I find random seeds that have been collected and stuffed in the pockets of my apron and coats and even my dressing gown!
Trying to be better this year and get the collected seeds into proper paper bags with labels so I know what they are when it comes time to resow them in the Spring!
It’s been a very busy season, lots of projects completed and new ones in the pipeline… but I can reassure you there will be no more pictures of digging drains and carting soil and shingle.
We have thankfully completed those big jobs and can now think about getting ready for the next growing season.
Feeling quite excited thinking about Spring and all the things I want to grow!
It’s been one year since cyclone Gabrielle hit our region and our home.
The sun is shining beautifully today and it’s a little surreal to think this time last year we were in a state of emergency and under water.
I’m some ways it feels like it was a long time ago and in others just yesterday.
The images on social media and television still make me well up with tears and the sound of rain no longer brings comfort.
I feel deeply connected to the soil and land in a way that I find hard to explain in words, a connection formed from working, growing, nurturing the environment around us.
There is a deep seated sadness for the damage to our land that still stays with me.
Over the last year we have worked hard and achieved so much, raised the land, completed the big irrigation projects, built a greenhouse, hosted our first seed sowing workshop with .journal had our first plant sale and then to top it of had the pleasure of hosting the team from when they came to Hawkes bay to do Jacindas wedding!
Feeling very grateful and proud that we have come through a very trying year but I just have to say if it wasn’t for the support of very kind and dear friends then I think we wouldn’t have feared so well!
Forever grateful for sarah and Aila and Astrud who came at just the right time to help!
Thank you so much to the community of people who have supported and helped us this year, it truly has been so so appreciated!
Sometimes it’s good to look back and reflect at just how much work we have done since we bought our property 2015
Found this pic of the front paddock in 2017 when we were growing Sweet pea for seed for
It’s changed so much since then with lots of new garden beds, greenhouses and also my flower studio… it’s almost unrecognisable to what it is now
It’s great to see the gardens progress and looking at these pics is a great reminder of just how hard we have worked and how far we have come in recent years, it’s nice to feel a sense of contentment and pride in what we have achieved.
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Think this is my new favourite view of the garden.
It’s quiet and still here in the gardens this morning and I’m sitting thinking about all the lovely people who have visited in the last few weeks.
The plant sales and workshops have been just fabulous, far exceeded our expectations and have made all our hard work to get the gardens back on track since the cyclone so worthwhile.
Its been a real blessing to have had you all here, can’t tell you how much it has healed our hearts to see you enjoy our gardens as much as we do.
We will certainly be doing more events but for now we will take a little break and get the summer garden planted.
The very biggest thank you Xx
Thank goodness for our new greenhouse, it’s nice and cosy and the perfect space to hide away from this awful wind!
Busy setting up for our plant sale and tucking in the plants that won’t appreciate a cool snap!
If it warms up we will move back under the trees but it’s looking pretty cute in here so either way we are sorted!
There’s lots of plants from our cutting gardens and some lovely perennials and shrubs.
If any ones brave there’s even a massive tree dahlia that I dug out of the garden this week.
It would be lovely to see you.
You can find us at 310 Lawn Rd
10-1pm tomorrow 🌱
The pram is loaded up with Sweet peas and we’ve been busy all day getting things ready for tomorrows plant sale!
Here’s the housekeeping!!
Plant sale will be on Friday and Saturday this week and for the next few weekends as well.
Gates open at 10-1pm
You will find us at 310 Lawn Rd
Please, please be super careful parking on our busy road!!
Would be a good idea to bring a bag or something to take your plants home in.
Sales are cash or bank transfer
There’s a lovely selection of annuals and perennials.
Look forward to seeing you🌱
We’ve been super busy getting the greenhouse up and running.
Learnt it’s probably a job best done by the professionals, wrangling big sheets of plastic covering wasn’t for the faint hearted that’s for sure!
The doors are still to paint but it’s looking super cute with the end walls painted pink!
We’ve decided it’s time to come out of hibernation and share our gardens and cottage with you!
Super excited and a tad nervous to let you know we’re joining Emma from .journal
and running a couple of seed sowing workshops here ( link in Bio)
Sometimes knowing how to get started growing your own garden can be a bit overwhelming so I’m hoping to share my passion for plants and growing with you!
You’ll get to have a wander in the cutting gardens as well as sow flowers for you to take home for your own garden!
Also the plant sale is going ahead, aiming for Labour weekend and thinking we will run it for a few weeks… there’s so many plants!
I just need to sort them and get a plan together!
It’s been a while since I’ve posted and given you an update on what we’ve been up to.
We had hoped for a quieter winter this year but in fact we’ve been busier than ever rebuilding the garden, it feels in lots of ways like we have started again.
Beds have been raised, drains put in and the new propagation house well under way!
It’s been a season of mud and dirt and shovelling trailer loads of shingle and soil but we are getting there!
Our favourite saying this season has been “not bad for a couple of oldies” each time we’ve accomplished a big job.
We’ve had some wonderful help from family and friends, which we are so grateful for.
We felt so blessed to have their help to lay the concrete foundation in the new greenhouse last weekend.
Hopefully it will be up and running before to long.
The Spring flowers are beginning and although I’ve felt a bit out of practice this week it has been lovely to be making bouquets again… it feels hopeful
Birthday treats don’t get much better than an urn workshop at with the wonderfully talented Zoe and Rhonda
I’ve come home inspired and heart full after spending time with some very talented ladies.
Thank you so much Sue for your hospitality and honestly your lasagna is the best!
Talking all things flowers with Sarah and Astrud and Aila was such a delight. (Some of us did talk a little more than others 🤣)
Hoping to try and make more time this season to practice and enjoy creating with flowers. I get so busy sometimes I forget to take time out to enjoy them.
Thanks everyone who attended the workshop and made it so enjoyable.. hope to meet up again
It’s been wetter than wet around here… the kind of weather that keeps you up and night and takes the Spring out of your step.
The tulips are flushing despite the rain, harvesting is quite a muddy job but I do adore their fleeting season, the scent a lovely reminder of my past trip to Amsterdam.
The tunnel house has been our saving grace this Spring and the ranunculus are doing well tucked in there.
Today I’m hiding in the greenhouse potting up seedlings for sale in October and also making up bouquets… it really seems to be a season of juggling flowers and growing.
If you don’t mind awful videos and a little rambling then you’ll enjoy this mornings garden walk… sorry in advance.
Hope to get the gatehouse up and running this week, let me know what days you would be keen to pop by!
Happily making up bouquets during the week (just Dm to order)
Enjoy your day
Kay 💐
I started a conversation on stories this morning… it’s something I’ve been mulling over for a long time…
Do you think about where flowers come from???
It’s not a topic for everyone I get that, but for so many of us it’s really important.
What started me wondering about how flowers are seen and valued was an article in a well known magazine ( it was a beautiful article ) that had a picture of a bouquet which was in a nutshell all locally grown flowers.
Heres the topic for me, every vendor remotely connected to this event was listed…dress, make up even down to the perfume, earrings and napkins but no mention about the flowers or where they came from!
This is not about being tagged but a bigger question for me is did anyone think about the origin of the flowers or who grew them?
Flowers like food have a foot print, economical and sustainable.
There’s now hundreds of flower growers like myself in New Zealand who are working really hard to build their hopes and dreams into a sustainable buisness.
Its hard work, really hard work and I would love for you to be part of appreciating and giving value to our flowers and what we do!
I
Winter is a time of reflection and road trips, a time when I can leave the flowers behind and reconnect with my thoughts and dreams.
Last week my flower friend Heidi and I travelled to the top of the North Island and were fortunate to visit some amazing New Zealand growers. Showered with kindness and hospitality we’ve come home full of inspiration and for me especially the clarity I was needing to head into the next season.
Thank you so much to everyone (you know who you are) for sharing your knowledge and homes with us, you are amazing!
Often our farms are a private place so to have you share them with us was so appreciated.
It’s an interesting time to see how others not just in NZ about all over the world are navigating their flower businesses.
It still amazes me that not one venture is the same, each uniquely shaped by the owners talents and passions.
I sometimes think about the early days of growing and how the enthusiasm and excitement was so wonderful and I envy those starting out, but then I remember the lessons hard learnt and am grateful for where we are now.
Over the years things havnt really gone as I thought they would, some exciting and challenging and some,the hardest of my life.
It’s been a week of chatting and cake and lots and lots of driving, very few photos but a few op shop stops… it wouldnt be a roadie without bringing home a few vases to add to the already outrageous collection.
Anyho… a little bit of a tired but happy ramble… can’t wait for spring to fill up these girls.
Spent today digging up the dahlias.
I was going to leave them in the ground this year but just had an inkling to check on them today, sure enough some of them stems were water logged from the recent heavy rains and showing some signs of rot.
I try to always listen to the quiet thoughts and follow my intuition in the garden. It’s saved me in more than one occasion.
The dahlia clumps will stay on the benches in the shed for a few days and then be put into crates and left overwinter.
Dirt stays on and they get divided in Spring.
We don’t have many loses and it works well for us.
The tulips are tucked in the new raised beds, all 2000 of them.
It’s been a huge job to clear space, build the new raised beds and plant them up this weekend.
My poor old muscles are aching tonight.
This flower growing is certainly not for the faint hearted.
Found this photo while I was scrolling through my pictures yesterday.
Taken in Giverny France about this time in 2018 just before entering Monets garden… a garden that literally moved me to tears because never in my dreams did I think I would ever get to see it.
Honestly I never could have imagined the flowery journey that a handful of Sweet peas was going to take me on when we moved to our little cottage her in Hawkes Bay.
It’s certainly a story with so many highs and lows and maybe one for another day as today I’m thinking about being a Mum and my Mum who past a few years ago.
Life can change so quickly and I’ve certainly learnt to hold onto the best memories and store them away.
Gardens have always been a place that bring me inspiration and comfort.. a place where my brain can be still and I can just be.. I know lots of you will feel the same about your gardens too, it’s a place to nurture and be nurtured isn’t it.
At times my ambitious ideas mean it can sometimes feel overwhelming but as I learn to define what I can and enjoy doing it’s feeling a bit more manageable.. well mostly!
Anyho off to check on my millions of seedlings… yes I planted way too many so I’m thinking I will have some to share with you.
The flowers have finished for this season and it’s time to get ready for Spring. Time to tidy everything up and have a shuffle around.
Spring is my absolute favourite time of the year so I’m going a bit overboard this year.. tulips, Italian ranunculus and lots more gorgeousness.
Look forward to sharing them with you, thanks so very very much to everyone who has been part of this flowery journey Xx
It’s been raining for what seems like forever, we don’t usually have such grey Autumn days.
Thank goodness the sun popped out today and so did the dahlias.
The heads of these cafe are often too big but right now they are just the perfect size.
We’ve had constant rain for days now so it’s been catch up on all the inside end of season tasks.
The flower shed got a jolly good sort out and all the faded blooms of summer that have been poked into all the nooks and crannies have been taken down.
The Spring bulbs have been arriving and it’s time to get some of them in the ground and others into the fridge to chill.
We are experimenting with some of the saved seed and corms from last years Ranunculus and Anenomes so they are tucked up in the greenhouse.
There’s still flowers but with the cooler days the abundance of Summer has well and truly past.
Still blooms going out for weddings and bouquets but the gate sales have finished now till Spring.
It’s nice to have slower days…and have a little lie in
Took some time to enjoy the last of the roses.
Besotted with the white fusichia that look just like ballerinas.
Slowly, slowly the house is changing… it’s a big job.
There’s been an awful lot of deadheading going on.
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February, my least favourite month.
Everything gets messy, the gardens and the sheds.
It’s always the month I second guess everything, then the
Spring bulbs go on sale and I’m hooked into another year.
rain
The Lisianthus crop is doing well this season, last year was a disaster so I’m not sure I can say I’ve cracked their growing just yet.
This single stem has me totally intrigued as it changes colour from white to pink, it’s so pretty.
The vase life is so good that I’m sure I’ll add more varieties next year.
Busy saving seeds from some of my favourite Foxgloves today but I’m wondering if they will grow back the same or not.
Has anyone done this, I’d be interested to hear how you got on.
I’m struggling to find good resources about saving flower seeds so I’d love some pointers please.
Looks like a cyclone is on its way so we’ve been busy picking the cutting gardens and making sure everything is as secure as it can be today… hoping it’s not going to be too destructive.
We certainly need some rain as the ground is cracked from the Summer heat but anything extreme is a bit worrying.
Here’s hoping it blows itself out before it gets here.
Hello 2022….Lots of gorgeous summer flowers in the field at the moment.
Sea holly has the most stunning colour but it really doesn’t smell very nice.
We’ve almost made it to the end of 2021, it’s certainly been a year for the history books.
If I was to sum it up in one word then Id have to be honest and say “Hard”
We know we’re not the only ones to have faced challenges this year but we’ve made it through thanks to your support and the love of close friends and family.
We are looking forward to celebrating Christmas and having some time off.
Orders have closed for this week and we will be back on board January 14th
Take care everyone and we hope you get to enjoy time with those you love… see you 2022
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If you don’t mind awful videos and a little rambling then you’ll enjoy this mornings garden walk… sorry in advance. Hope to get the gatehouse up and running this week, let me know what days you would be keen to pop by! Happily making up bouquets during the week (just Dm to order) Enjoy your day Kay 💐
Possibly the worst video on Instagram but it will suffice this morning. A little peek into my back garden and you get to hear my crackly voice ramble on about my wonderful flowery mess of a garden. Going with the perfectly imperfect, enjoy your day Xx . . #itwilldo. #soundfunny # haves lovely day #sorryabouthepoorquality
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